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[XiaNaphryz]

A quick acknowledgement to Arioch and his Well of Souls Civ Analyst page, which has compiled a ton of info on Civ and is where I've referenced a lot of the info in this thread from.

Platform: PC
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy Simulation
Developer: Firaxis Games
Price: $49.99 US ($59.99 Digital Deluxe, $99.99 Special Edition)
Release Date: NA - September 21, 2010, EU - September 24, 2010. Playable demo available now, size is around 4 GB.

Unlock Times: No matter where you buy your copy of Civilization V, you won't be able to play until the game unlocks in your region. Here are the unlock times that we know of:

North America:
September 21 @ 10am EDT (New York, Toronto, Fake Virginia, Miami)
September 21 @ 9am CDT (Chicago)
September 21 @ 8am MDT (Denver)
September 21 @ 7am PDT (California, Washington)
September 21 @ 11am ADT (Nova Scotia) [fixed: Thanks Canucker]

Worldwide:
September 24 @ 00:00 UTC

For those who ordered through a digital distributor, this is the time when you will be able to activate the game on Steam. The same restriction applied to retail copies, no matter when they are bought or delivered.


Ratings:
ESRB E10+
PEGI 12+
AU PG

Supported Languages:
English, Italian, German, Spanish, French

Links

CiV 5 Site: http://www.civilization5.com/
Firaxis Site: http://www.firaxis.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/civ
Twitter: http://twitter.com/2kgames
Game manual: http://www.civilization5.com/#/community/feature_manual

System Requirements

Minimum System Requirements

Operating System: Windows(r) XP SP3/ Windows(r) Vista SP2/ Windows(r) 7
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.0 GHz
Memory: 2GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free
DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation
Video: 256 MB ATI HD2600 XT or better, 256 MB nVidia 7900 GS or better, or Core i3 or better integrated graphics
Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
DirectX(r): DirectX(r) version 9.0c

Recommended System Requirements

Operating System: Windows(r) Vista SP2/ Windows(r) 7
Processor: 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free
DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation
Video: 512 MB ATI 4800 series or better, 512 MB nVidia 9800 series or better
Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
DirectX(r): DirectX(r) version 11

Other Requirements

Initial installation requires one-time Internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries and Microsoft DirectX.

Internet Connection and acceptance of Steam Subscriber Agreement required for activation. See www.steampowered.com/agreement for details. Software license terms available in game manual and at www.take2games.com/eula. Non-transferable access to special features such as exclusive, unlockable, downloadable or online content, services or functions may require single-use serial code, additional fee and/or online account registration (13+).

Access to special features may require internet connection, may not be available to all users, and may, upon 30 days notice, be terminated, modified or offered under different terms.


Purchase options

- The standard version of the game is available in most retail stores as well as digital distribution via Steam or Direct2Drive.

- The special edition available in retail stores features the following extras:

* 2-disc CD soundtrack of game score selections
* Behind-the-scenes DVD at Firaxis
* 5 metal figurines based on units from Civilization V manufactured by Reaper Miniatures
* 176 page hardcover artbook

- There is a deluxe digital edition available on Steam or Direct2Drive that features the following extras:

* Bonus Babylon Civilization with leader "Nebuchadnezzar II"
* Behind the Scenes at Firaxis with Civ V video feature
* Game Soundtrack


Pre-order bonuses

- Pre-ordering the game (regular or deluxe) at Steam offers the following extras:

* Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia

- Pre-ordering the game (regular or deluxe) at Direct2Drive offers the following extras:

* A free copy of Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete
* The first Double Civilization and Scenario DLC Pack for free when available (note that the two civilizations are in addition to Babylon if you order the deluxe version)

- Pre-ordering the game (regular or SE) at Walmart offers the following extras:

* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: The Americas

- Pre-ordering the game (regular or SE) at Amazon.com / .ca (but not the other Amazon websites world-wide) offers the following extras:

* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Asia (unlock code e-mailed within 10 days)

- Pre-ordering the game (regular or SE) at Amazon.de (but not the other Amazon websites world-wide) offers the following extras:

* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Mediterranean

- Pre-ordering the game at CDON.se / .no / .dk / .fi offers the following extras:

* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: The Americas

- Pre-ordering the game at Play offers the following extras:

* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Mediterranean

- Pre-ordering the game at GAME.co.uk offers the following extras:

* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: The Americas

- Pre-ordering the Nordic Edition at various suppliers in Sweden and Norway offers the following extras:

* Regular Edition (DVD)
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Asia
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: The Americas
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Mediterranean


Steamworks
Civilization V uses Steamworks. For those installing from a retail purchase, you will need to connect to the Internet and activate your game once after installation. After activation you no longer have to be online to play the game, as Steam will let you launch the game in offline mode.


DLC Plans
Additional civilizations, maps, and scenarios will be released in DLC packs. The DLC pack "Double Civilization and Scenario Pack" is tenatively scheduled for a late 2010 release.

Other likely DLC packs (not confirmed yet) include:

* Babylonia civilization
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Asia
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Americas
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Mesopotamia
* Map Pack: Cradle of Civilization: Mediterranean

Here is the list of civilizations that will be included at release. Each civilization has only one Leader choice, and no longer have Traits. Instead of Traits, each civilization has a unique Special Ability. Each civilization has at least one unique unit, some have a Unique Building. Roughly half of the civilizations have a second Unique Unit instead of a Unique Building.

Each leader has a personality made from a combination of several different attributes along a ten point scale. In each game, each attribute will be randomly modified +/- two points, allowing for a different experience each game. So Russia may have an attribute of 8 for expansion, but at the start of the game the attribute could be set any where from 6 to 10. Attributes include Wide Strategy, Military preferences, Recon, Naval recon, Naval growth, Expansion, Growth, Development preferences.

America

Leader: Washington
Unique Units: Minuteman - Appears to have a combat bonus when fighting in friendly territory, in addition to the American unique ability of increased sight range; B-17 - Units have a civilian-style triangular unit icon (allowing a fighter unit to stack with it).
Special Ability: Manifest Destiny - All land military units have +1 sight range. 25% discount when purchasing tiles.

Arabia

Leader: Harun al-Rashid
Unique Unit: Camel Archer - Can move after combat. Weak to Pikemen.
Unique Building: Bazaar - Provides an additional instance of each improved luxury resource near the City.
Special Ability: Trade Caravans - +1 gold from each Trade Route, and Oil resources provide double quantity.

Aztec

Leader: Montezuma
Unique Unit: Jaguar - One preview suggests that the Jaguar has a bonus fighting in Jungle, and can heal itself by defeating an enemy unit (similar to the Janissary).
Unique Building: Floating Gardens - +2 Food per worked lake tile, regular Water Mill food bonus +15%
Special Ability: Sacrificial Captives - Gains Culture for the empire from each enemy unit killed.

China

Leader: Wu Zetian
Unique Unit: Chu-Ko-Nu - May fire twice per turn.
Unique Building: Paper Maker - +4 Gold, +1 Science for every 2 Citizens, 1 Science specialist slot
Special Ability: Art of War - Effectiveness and spawn rate of Great Generals increased.

Egypt

Leader: Ramesses II
Unique Units: War Chariot - Ffaster than the normal chariot, doesn't require Horse resources.
Unique Building: Burial Tomb - +2 Culture, no maintenance +2 happiness; double Gold in plunder if captured
Special Ability: Monument Builders - +20% production towards Wonder construction.

England

Leader: Elizabeth I
Unique Units: Longbowman - range of 3 instead of 2; Ship of the Line - faster and stronger than normal Frigate unit
Special Ability: Sun Never Sets - +2 movement for all naval units.

France

Leader: Napoleon
Unique Units: Musketeer - Stronger than normal Musketman unit; Foreign Legion - Combat bonus outside friendly territory.
Special Ability: Ancien Regime - +2 culture per turn from Cities before discovering Steam Power.

Germany

Leader: Otto von Bismarck
Unique Units: Landsknecht - Has the same stats as the normal Pikeman unit but is cheaper to produce; Panzer - Can attack again after combat, gets a combat penalty when attacking Cities, has limited range of sight.
Special Ability: Furor Teutonicus - Upon defeating a Barbarian unit inside an encampment, there is a 50% chance you earn 25 gold and they join your side.

Greece

Leader: Alexander
Unique Units: Hoplite - Stronger than normal Spearman unit; Companion Cavalry - Stronger than normal Horseman unit, allegedly also gives increased Great General points.
Special Ability: Hellenic League - City-State influence degrades at half and recovers and twice the normal rate.

India

Leader: Gandhi
Unique Unit: War Elephant - Much stronger than normal Chariot Archer unit, but one movement point slower
Unique Building: Mughal Fort - 4 maintenance, +2 Culture, provides Gold after Flight is researched.
Special Ability: Population Growth - Unhappiness from number of cities doubled, Unhappiness from number of Citizens halved.

Iroquois

Leader: Hiawatha
Unique Units: Mohawk Warrior - +50% combat bonus in Forest or Jungle.
Unique Building: Longhouse - Requires Metal Casting, +1 Production from each worked Forest tile, 1 Engineering specialist slot.
Special Ability: The Great Warpath - Units spend only 1 Movement Point entering any tile with a Forest.

Japan

Leader: Oda Nobunaga
Unique Units: Samurai - Automatically receives Shock I promotion (bonus fighting in open terrain), success in combat with a Samurai has an increased chance of generating Great Generals; Zero - Combat bonus against other Fighters, can perform missions within its range of 8: attack enemy aircraft and ground units, scout enemy positions, defend against enemy air attacks.
Special Ability: Bushido - Units fight as though they were at full strength even when damaged.

Ottomans

Leader: Suleiman
Unique Units: Sipahi - +1 Sight range, bonus against Mounted units, penalty on defense, can pillage enemy tile improvements at no additional movement cost; Janissary - Receives a combat bonus on the attack, automatically heals all damage when it defeats a non-Barbarian unit.
Special Ability: Barbary Corsairs - 50% chance of converting a Barbarian naval unit to your side and earning 25 Gold.

Persia

Leader: Darius
Unique Unit: Immortal - Heals at double rate.
Unique Building: Satrap's Court - +25% gold, +2 happiness.
Special Ability: Achaemenid Legacy - Golden Ages last 50% longer. During a Golden Age, units receive +1 Movement and a +10% Combat Strength bonus.

Rome

Leader: Augustus Caesar
Unique Units: Legion - Can build Roads and Forts like a Worker; Ballista - Stronger than normal Catapult unit.
Special Ability: The Glory of Rome - +25% production towards any buildings that already exist in the Capital.

Russia

Leader: Catherine
Unique Unit: Cossack - Does more damage to wounded enemy units.
Unique Building: Krepost - +15 XP to all land units, -50% Culture cost for buying City tiles.
Special Ability: Siberian Riches - Strategic Resources provide +1 Production, and Horse, Iron and Uranium Resources provide double quantity.

Siam

Leader: Ramkhamhaeng
Unique Unit: Naresuan's Elephant - Combat bonus vs other Mounted units, can move after attacking.
Unique Building: Wat - +3 Culture, +50% Science, 2 x Scientist Specialists.
Special Ability: Father Governs Children - Food and Culture from friendly City-States increased by 50%.

Songhai

Leader: Askia
Unique Unit: Mandekalu Cavalry - +30% bonus vs. Cities.
Unique Building: Mud Pyramid Mosque - replaces Temple, +5 Culture
Special Ability: River Warlord - Receive triple Gold from Barbarian encampments and pillaging Cities, Embarked units can defend themselves.


The Babylon civ is available to those who purchase the Digital Deluxe version:

Babylon

Leader: Nebuchadnezzar II
Unique Unit: Bowman - higher strength than normal Archer unit both defensively and offensively.
Unique Building: Walls of Babylon - Higher defense than normal City Walls improvement, increases combat strength during bombardment
Special Ability: Earn free great scientist when you discover Writing, earn great scientists at double normal rate.

User Interface
One of the largest overhauls done for Civilization V is the UI. Having learned a lot in terms of UI during the development of Civilization Revolution for the console space, Firaxis appears to have done an even better job with Civ V in streamlining the interface to make better use of screen real estate, as well as making the game more approachable and easier to learn. Hands-on impressions and previews released so far indicate Firaxis has done just that.

Eurogamer comments that "Civilization V is the best of both worlds: more approachable, less opaque, but still with a huge, impenetrable brain throbbing in the background," and "Ultimately - with a UI that's frankly astounding, its polite hand-holding tutorials and event reminders somehow never becoming intrusive - there's little doubt that Civ V is onto something of a winner."

Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis, whose previous experience with the Civ franchise was limited only to Civ Revolution, stated on a podcast: "I think Civ V is definitely even more intuitively and intelligently designed than Civ Rev was," and that "Civ V does kind of what Civ Rev tried to do of simplifying and making stuff make sense, it is better at explaining its systems and streamlining things than Civ Rev is plus you still have that crazy depth."


Visuals
Civilization V uses a brand new graphics engine, built from scratch to take better advantage of multi-threading and multi-core systems, supporting up to 8 threads. The new engine spends less time waiting for memory, and is coded to take advantage of DirectX 11. DX11 will benefit users even if they don’t have DX11 capable hardware, since the API itself is much more heavily threaded DX9 and DX10 hardware users will see performance increases using DirectX 11.

Visually, early impressions are mostly positive on the new graphics engine. Animations pop out really well, units now look like armies as opposed to large oversized individuals, the terrain and landscape seems to blend together much more naturally due to the shift to a hex-based map, and city improvements look good as cities expand and grow. PC Gamer UK claims Civ V is "indisputably the best-looking turn-based strategy game ever made."


Hexes
One of the biggest visual changes is the change from a square-based map grid to a hexagon-based one. Aesthetically, the move to hexes allows land masses to be more naturally contoured and makes rivers and other channels of water less crooked looking. Strategically and tactically, the switch to hexes reduces the number of neighboring tiles from 8 to 6, making it easier to surround units (less sides) but also more difficult to retreat (less avenues for escape). In terms of cities, the move to hexes means a change to the initial tiles a city has control over, which is now the 6 immediate surrounding hexes.

In addition to the normal 3D view, there is a 2D hex-style Strategic View available if players need to see the individual hex tiles.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Combat
The other big game system overhaul is combat, the one area that has traditionally been the weakest in the franchise. Stacking units of the same category (military, naval, civilian) is no longer allowed, with the exceptions of city spaces (you can have a unit garrisoned along with a non-garrisoned unit), and Air & Missile units can stack on cities, Aircraft Carriers, and Missile Subs. Because of this new restriction, more fighting will occur out in the countryside rather than near cities making terrain consideration much more tactically important (see terrain bonus/penalty listing below).

Ranged Bombardment has returned as well, allowing some units to attack several hexes away, and it is now possible to completely destroy units with ranged attacks (unlike previous games). Note that most siege units require a turn to set up, so they cannot move and fire in the same turn.

Military land units exert a 1-hex zone of control, which will reduce adjacent enemy movement to 1 hex per turn. So you can effectively slow down an army's advancement just from proper unit placing as the enemy unit will lose all its remaining movement points once it enters the zone of control.

One of the major changes to combat is that non-ranged battles can now end in a draw if both units survive an attack, the combat calculations no longer have to continue until one side dies.

Another significant change is that land units can now embark on water without the use of transport ships. Simply moving a unit over water will automatically convert it to a transport ship for your appropriate tech level. You will likely still want naval units as escort, of course.

City defense has also been improved. Cities can fight on their own without a garrisoned unit, and will have a combat strength rating. You can still garrison a unit to increase the city's combat strength. As mentioned above, a city can have both a unit garrisoned and a regular unit stationed on the city tile at the same time. The regular unit stationed on the tile is ignored if the city is attacked as the garrisoned unit has precedence, but you can use the regular unit for additional offense.

The veterancy system from Civ IV returns, and there are also a number of combat bonuses/penalties depending on terrain:

* +15% combat bonus for at least one adjacent friendly unit (with Discipline social policy).
* +15% combat bonus for each friendly unit adjacent to the enemy ("flanking").
* +25% defensive bonus for rough terrain (hills, forest or jungle).
* -33% defensive penalty for open terrain (not hill, forest or jungle).
* -20% combat penalty for attacking across a river.
* +25% defensive bonus for unit fortification.
* +25% combat bonus for proximity to a Great General.

A damaged unit is less effective when attacking than a fully-healed unit. The more damaged the unit, the less its attack – melee or ranged – will damage an opponent. The actual formula is more complex than this, but as a general rule a unit’s damage output is reduced by half the percentage of HPs that it has lost. In other words, a unit that has lost 5 HPs (50%) has the amount of damage it does reduced by 25%, and the damage a unit that has lost 9 HPs (90%) inflicts, is reduced by 45%

The combination of all these changes appears to have greatly improved the combat system, those familiar with the Panzer General series of games may see a lot of similarities here.

As for Barbarians, they spawn from camps in territory hidden by fog-of-war. Camps provide gold when destroyed. Barbarians will not build cities or occupy captured cities, only destroy them. Their unit types progress with that of the most advanced civilization.


Empire Building - Cities, Research, Culture, Wonders

Several changes have gone into the civ building side of the game.

Happiness is now handled globally instead of a city by city basis, and is displayed as an overall number. You no longer will need to micro-manage happiness in each city, as anything that affects it will affect your entire civ. Like prior Civ games, positive happiness will help you achieve a Golden Age. Negative happiness will slow population growth due to penalties incurred to food surpluses. On the extreme end, sufficient negative happiness will cause cities to stop growing altogether, prevent them from producing Settlers, and your military units will get hit with combat penalties. Also note that in Civ V, expanding your empire too fast (either through settlers or conquest) will result in some significant unhappiness (initially +3 Unhappiness, then 1 for each population). Same thing with quickly capturing a ton of cities.

The classic Commerce system we're all used to, the Gold/Research/Culture sliders, are gone. They are now all generated independently. Gold will have uses as well beyond rushing rushing production and unit upgrades: buying city tiles (instead of waiting for a city to naturally gain it through culture expansion) and maintenance costs on units/buildings/roads are now possible uses. Gold can still be used as diplomatic bargaining chips as well.

Science is primarily driven from your general population, though you can still use specialists, buildings, and unique tile improvements to enhance your research production. Also note that if you run out of gold due to negative income, it will come out of your research on a 1:1 basis. So for every 1 gold deficit you have, you lose 1 research point.

Culture largely works as it has in previous Civ games, and still determines automatic local city expansion. But it can also be spent like Gold on Social Policy items (see section below). With the new map grid layout of hexes, cities now expand only one tile at a time, with a maximum radius of 3 tiles. Expanding cities to its full theoretical influence of 37 tiles is reportedly very difficult, meaning it would be best to put some thought in your city layouts. A city's local Culture production rate controls how quickly that city will add a new tile, and the population automatically chooses the tile to expand to, with a preference towards whatever available resource the game thinks your city needs most. You can choose to purchase additional tiles with gold, which can dramatically speed up how fast a city can utilize resources on the map as well as expand the borders of your overall civilization. Purchase pricing for each tile will depend on the difficulty the city would have to claim the tile normally, meaning roughness of terrain and obstacles such as rivers will increase the price. Note that you can only purchase unclaimed tiles.

When a city is captured, you will get the option to Annex, Raze, or Create Puppet. Annexing the City causes it to become a normal city, but one that produces quite a bit of extra Unhappiness that does not reduce over time, and can only be eliminated by building a Courthouse in that city. After a Courthouse is built, the annexed city will behave the same as any of your other cities. By turning the city into a Puppet it will generate Gold, Science, and Culture for you but you may not choose what it produces though it will contribute much less Unhappiness than an Annexed City. Razing a city is self-explanatory - burn it to the ground!

You can setup Trade Routes by connecting cities with the capital, either through roads or a Harbor building. The value of the trade route is determined by the combined sizes of the city and the Capital. You can interfere with Trade Routes through blocking roads or blockading harbors. Note that roads are no longer required to connect resources to cities, only to connect cities to their capital for trade routes - all that is required for access to a resource is for it to be within your borders and to have the appropriate improvement constructed in that tile. Also note that roads and railroads have per-turn maintenance costs.

Another big change is that Cities can no longer "flip" from culture alone, so save those culture bombs for just snagging unclaimed territory.

In regards to resources, there are three different kinds: Strategic, Bonus, and Luxury.

Strategic resources are now finite, units that require them take from a global pool as they are built. Strategic resources are not visible from the start and require knowledge of a particular technology before they will appear on a map. For example, horses do not appear until you have researched Animal Husbandry, and Iron doesn't show until you discover Iron Working.

Strategic resources allow you to build certain units and buildings. When you construct an improvement on a resource tile, it provides you a limited number of that resource. Resources allocated to a unit are returned to the available pool if the unit is destroyed or disbanded. Strategic resources include Horses, Iron, Coal, Oil, Aluminum, and Uranium.

Bonus resources increase food and gold output of a tile, and cannot be traded to other civilizations. They include Bananas, Cattle, Deer, Fish, Sheep, and Wheat.

Luxury resources increase a civilization's happiness and provide a small bonus to that tile's particular production output. More than one deposit of the same resource has no additional benefit other than for diplomatic use in trades, but you will get bonuses from working on a different luxury resource type. Luxury resources now provide some Gold when worked on.

Periodically, a city may request that you acquire a specific luxury resource and if you succeed the city will go into the "We Love the King Day" celebration for 20 turns, during which the city's growth rate will be increased. When the celebration is over, the city will demand another luxury resource.

Luxury resources include Cotton, Dye, Gems, Gold, Fur, Incense, Ivory, Marble,
Pearls, Silk, Silver, Spices, Sugar, Whales, and Wine

In addition to the standard Wonders you can build (World wonders, limited to one in the world at any one time, and National Wonders that can be built once per civilization), there are Natural Wonders which are special terrain tiles you can encounter in the world that can provide extra happiness, commerce, and/or production for nearby cities. These include the Great Barrier Reef, "Old Faithful" Geyser, Mount Fuji, Barringer Crater, Grand Mesa, Mount Everest, Rock of Gibraltar, and Krakatoa.


City States

A new addition to the Civ franchise, City-States are AI-controlled single-city civilizations that do not expand or try to win the game like regular civs.

There are three types in the game: Cultured, Maritime, and Militaristic. City-States also have different Personalities. Geneva for example is "Irrational," indicating that they may make strange requests. Other examples are Vienna (Neutral), Cape Town (Friendly), and Seoul (Hostile).

City-States can be friends with any civilization, but can only be allied with one at a time. Friendship can be gained through gifts to gain influence ponts. Once befriended, a city-state provides bonuses according to its type: Culture for Cultured, Food for Maritime, and periodic gifts of units for Militaristic. City-states Will periodically ask for favors from friends through missions, which might include clearing barbarians, or attacking a rival city-state. Gaining greater influence gives greater rewards, eventually leading to alliance. Allied city-states grant the allied civ access to all of their resources, and they will join the allied civ during wars. They Will also vote for the allied Civ in UN elections. City-state each have one vote, just like regular civilizations.

City-state influence will degrade over time, so you will need to continually offer gifts or assistance to maintain your relationship. City-States can be conquered, in which case any relationship bonuses are lost and it becomes a normal city in your empire. It cannot be razed, and other civilizations can have the incentive to try to recapture it from you to liberate it. A civ's Social Policies may also influence relations with city-states.

There are lots of City-States in the game, and typically there will be twice as many city-states as regular civilizations in a normal game. The full list of City-States:

o Almaty: Militaristic
o Belgrade: Militaristic
o Bucharest: Cultured
o Budapest: Militaristic
o Brussels: Cultured
o Cape Town: Maritime, Friendly
o Copenhagen: Maritime
o Dublin: Militaristic, Friendly
o Edinburgh: Militaristic, Irrational
o Florence: Cultured, Irrational
o Geneva: Cultured, Irrational
o Genoa: Maritime, Hostile
o Hanoi: Militaristic
o Helsinki: Maritime
o Lhasa: Cultured
o Monaco: Cultured, Irrational
o Oslo: Maritime
o Kuala Lumpur: Cultured
o Ragusa: Maritime
o Rio de Janeiro: Maritime
o Seoul: Cultured, Hostile
o Sidon: Militaristic, Hostile
o Singapore: Maritime
o Stockholm: Maritime, Irrational
o Tyre: Militaristic
o Venice: Maritime
o Vienna: Cultured, Neutral
o Warsaw: Cultured, Hostile


Diplomacy

When interacting with other civ leaders, you will get a full-screen, full-body real-time rendered leader to interact with during discussions as opposed to pre-rendered video. Leaders will speak in their native language. A new engine was coded from the ground up for this.

Other changes to diplomacy include:

* The removal of religion means it will no longer help or hinder relations
* You can no longer trade technologies. Instead, you can enter Research Agreements, where you agree to invest a lump sum of gold with another civilization and will in return receive a random technology after 20 turns. If either side terminates the agreement at any point, the remainder of the investment is lost.
* Social Policies (see below) do not affect relations with other civilizations.
* Details of a leader's attitude and specific +/- relationship factors are no longer shown to the player, you will have to rely on reading body language.
* Leaders are sensitive to a player's placement of military units, as well as purchasing of map tiles.

Social Policies

One of the major changes in Civ V is the Government/Civics system which has been completely overhauled. You no longer choose between different forms of government like Monarchy or Communism. Civ V uses a new "Social Policy" system consisting of 10 separate trees, where you can spend Culture to unlock various bonuses. You don't switch between policies, but choose which tree to invest in and the bonuses are cumulative.

You start the game with access to the Tradition, Liberty, and Honor trees. Other trees unlock as you reach certain tech eras. Some trees are incompatible with others, so for example you can't have both Freedom and Autocracy, or both Rationalism and Piety. Purchasing all the options in five of the ten trees will unlock a Utopia Project wonder which needs to be built to achieve a Cultural Victory.

Note that Social Policies don't affect your relations with other civilizations, but they do affect relations with city-states.

Jon Shafer, Civ V's lead designer comments: "With the policies system, we wanted to keep the feel of mixing and matching to construct one's government that was part of Civ IV, but we also wanted to instill a sense of forward momentum. Rather than having to switch out of one policy to adopt another, you build upon the policies already unlocked. The thought process we want to promote is 'What cool new effect do I want?' rather than the feeling of needing to perform detailed analysis to determine if switching is a good idea/"

Here are the known social policy trees:

Tradition
Tradition is best for small empires, with many Policies that improve the Capital City. Adopting Tradition will immediately provide a bonus of +1 Food per turn in the Capital.

* Aristocracy
* Oligarchy
* Legalism
* Landed Elite
* Monarchy

Liberty
Liberty is best for civilizations which desire rapid expansion. Adopting Liberty will speed up the training of Settlers by 50%. This branch cannot be active at the same time as Autocracy.

* Collective Rule
* Republic
* Citizenship
* Meritocracy
* Representation

Honor
Honor improves the effectiveness of one's army in a variety of ways. Adopting Honor gives a +25% combat bonus VS Barbarians and notifications will be provided when new Barbarian Camps spawn in revealed territory.

* Warrior Code
* Discipline
* Military Caste
* Military Tradition
* Professional Army

Piety
Unlocks at Classical Era.
Piety increases the Happiness of empires, and allows their Culture to flourish. Adopting Piety immediately increases the Happiness in the empire by 2.

This branch cannot be active at the same time as Rationalism.

* Organized Religion
* Reformation
* Theocracy
* Mandate of Heaven
* Free Religion

Patronage
Unlocks at Medieval Era.
Patronage enhances the benefits of City-State friendship. Influence with City-States degrades 50% slower than normal.

* Aesthetics
* Cultural Diplomacy
* Educated Elite
* Philanthropy
* Scholasticism

Commerce
Unlocks at Medieval Era.
Commerce provides bonuses to naval empires and those focused on Gold. Adopting Commerce will boost Gold output in capital city by 25%.

* Mercantilism
* Merchant Navy
* Naval Tradition
* Protectionism
* Trade Unions

Freedom
Unlocks at Renaissance Era.
Upon Adopting Freedom, specialist population in cities produce half the normal amount of Unhappiness. This branch cannot be active at the same time as Autocracy.

* Free Speech
* Civil Society
* Constitution
* Democracy
* Universal Suffrage

Rationalism
Unlocks at Renaissance Era.

* Free Thought
* Humanism
* Scientific Revolution
* Secularism
* Sovereignty

Order
Unlocks at Industrial Era.

* Communism
* Nationalism
* Planned Economy
* Socialism
* United Front

Autocracy
Unlocks at Industrial Era.
Autocracy if for militaristic civilizations, dreaming of world conquest. Adopting Autocracy reduces Unit Gold Maintenance costs by 33%, allowing an empire to field a larger military. This branch cannot be active at the same time as Freedom.

* Total War
* Fascism
* Militarism
* Police State
* Populism


Tech Tree
The Civ V tree, especially in the early eras, is significantly condensed from the previous game, but most of the key technologies are still there. Most of the missing techs from Civ 4 are either religion related or civil/social related, and the roles/bonuses for the latter should have moved to social policies.

It looks like you start the game with Agriculture, and go from there. So no more different starting techs for different civilizations. Technologies can no longer be traded, but you can enter into Research Agreements with other civilizations.



* Icons seem to go from left to right: Units, City Buildings, Wonders, Revealed Resources, Tile Improvements, Abilities, Projects. Buildings, Wonders and Resources are circular icons.
* Terrain Improvements and terrain working abilities appear as white icons without a circular border.
* Unit icons often "break" the boundaries of their circular border and so are easier to identify.


Victory Conditions

Here's the list of ways you can win, you can choose to disable any of the Victory conditions.

* Domination: Victory now only requires capture of all of the other civilizations' original capitals. Capture of an enemy capital does not eliminate a civilization from the game, as a different city will be designated as a new capital. However, the original capital is the one that's necessary for Domination victory - a civilization cannot achieve Domination if it is not in possession of its original capital.
* Culture: Victory requires construction of the Utopia Project, unlocked by filling 5 of 10 Social Policy trees purchased with Culture.
* Science Victory: Win the Space race by building a starship to launch towards Alpha Centauri. Each starship module produced must be transported to the Capital, allowing for other civs to intercept them.
* Diplomatic Victory: Win the United Nations vote. All civilizations and city-states now have only 1 vote. There is a progress screen that actually tracks the number of votes you have, so triggering an election can now be a reliable means of winning the game.
* Time Victory: Have the highest score at 2050 AD.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Other Changes from previous Civ titles

* As stated in an earlier section, strategic resources such as Iron are now limited, and each unit built that requires them will reduce the total available pool.
* There is a hard cap on the number of units your civilization can support. This cap is determined by the game difficulty, and the number of cities and citizens in your civilization.
* Some civilizations have a second Unique Unit instead of a Unique Building.
* Decommissioning units now refunds some gold.
* The Space Ship parts are actually units, because they need to be transported from the construction site to the launch site. They can therefore be intercepted by other civs.

The following is a list of features from Civ IV: Beyond the Sword that have not (as far as we know) been implemented in Civ V. This is not meant to be viewed as a negative thing, just as information:

* Religions: Not in the game. The developers felt that religions constituted an early "rush" and affected diplomacy in a binary way; other civs were either the same religion as you and liked you, or were a different religion and disliked you. With a greater emphasis on the diplomacy engine and the new City-States to help drive diplomacy, they felt that religions were a hindrance.
* Corporations: Not in the game. Corporations were based on the Religion engine.
* Espionage: Not in the game. There are no longer Spy units.
* Vassal States: City-States operate in some ways like Vassals, but not entirely (see City States section above)
* Civics: Replaced by Social Policies.
* City Health and Pollution: Replaced by an expanded Happiness system.
* Random Events: Have not been seen.
* Wonder Movies: Have been replaced with single-image paintings (which seem quite nice).

The following is a list of tile improvements and resources from Civ IV that have not as yet been seen in Civ V:

* Cottage: replaced by Trading Post.
* Winery: replaced by Plantation.
* Whaling Boats: replaced by Fishing Boats.
* Watermill: It looks like this is now a city Building instead of a tile improvement.
* Workshop: See above (now a city Building instead of an improvement)
* Windmill: See above (now a city Building instead of an improvement)
* Forest Preserve
* Pigs
* Crab
* Rice
* Copper
* Stone
* Corn
* Hit Movies, Musicals, Singles

Yes, Civ V supports Steam Achievements. Yes, your life is now forever ruined as your free time is consumed as you try and get a bunch of these. At least they have some awesome achievement names! My favorites include "I'm On A Boat!" and "I Can Has Nukes?"

Mod Support
Previous Civ games are well-known for some spectacular user-created mods, maps, and other content. This should continue with Civ V, as the game will have mod support built-in from the start and ship with a suite of modding tools.


Multiplayer
Civ IV had support for several types of multiplayer modes and Civ V should feature the same, ranging from standard online play to Play-By-Email style play. Users could select from a range of game options from short quick games with simultaneous turns that could be completed in one session to PBEM-style games that span months.

So far it seems like basic multiplayer modes will be available at launch, and other modes such as Pitboss (dedicated server support for multiplayer matches, so if everyone is connected at the same time it works like any other online game but if any player drops out the server will wait for those players to take their turns before continuing), play-by-mail, and hot-seat will be added later.

Civilization 5 Benchmark Modes

The benchmark modes in Civilization5 are designed to stress and test various aspects of the users hardware and supporting software ( e.g. drivers ). There are 3 benchmarks in total. Each benchmark tests a specific workload scenario. In addition, any of the tests can be run with command line modifiers which alters the way threaded rendering submission is handled by Direct X 11.

To ensure the benchmark results are reported, in the config.ini ( located in your “\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5” ) make sure that “LoggingEnabled = 1”. The results will be stored in the logs folder at the same level as the config.ini. Ensure that “MaxSimultaneousThreads” is set to the number of processor cores you wish to test against. Values for MaxSimultaneousThreads greater than 16 are unsupported and clamped.

1. Late Game View Benchmark.
This benchmark is designed to simulate a late game workload. This scenario exercises all aspects of the game engine pipeline since all simulation and renderable object types are represented at a frequency consistent with a game that has been in progress for 300+ turns.

To run this test, run the application with the command line option “-benchmark lateGameView”. Case insensitive.

- Results are reported in the “LateGameViewBench.log” file.
- Full Render Score reflects the active rendering settings of you application.
- No Shadow render score turns the shadow pass off for the application.
- No Render score emulates an infinitely fast GPU and will bypass most driver overhead. This serves as a baseline for Civ 5’s engine performance vs GPU and Driver performance ( note while in this mode, the display will flicker ).
- All results are reported as frames rendered over 60 seconds. Additionally the number of draw call made per frame is reported.

Note: Mousewheel zoom in some benchmarks are enabled for inspection, however using this will affect the end results. For consistent results the user should avoid altering the zoom level.

2. Unit Benchmark.
This benchmark is designed to stress test the users system by executing a parallel series of animation and rendering tasks. The workload will heavily stress the CPU as well as GPU and driver. It is designed as a total throughput test to evaluate a users system and determine where the bottlenecks occur. Results reported are similar to the Late Game View benchmark, however the display settings are overridden for consistency. Therefore changes to the graphics settings will not impact the test except for setting resolution.

To run this test, run the application with the command line argument “-Benchmark Units”, case insensitive.

3. Leader Benchmark
The Leader Benchmark is designed to test advanced rendering features which we use for our leader scenes. This test can run through any of the leader scenes specified and report the performance for that leader. Also this test can be used to measure the performance of Compute Shading features via our variable bitrate compression technology. This compression test measures the GPU performance of the video card.

- To run in leaderhead benchmark mode, start the app with “-LeaderBenchmark “
- To run in compression mode, start the app with “-LeaderBenchmark –compression”.

Note: Compression mode will do nothing but continually decompress and display textures for the given scene for the specified duration. The leaders themselves will not be displayed.

The full syntax for the command line options are:
-LeaderBenchmark [-compression] [-duration time_in_secs] [-norendering] [-logname log_filename] <list_of_leader_files>
-logname is the name of a file to append to (Default is 'LeaderBenchmark.csv')
-duration is how long to remain in each scene
-norendering is equivalent to the norender option in the previous benchmarks.
<list_of_leader_files> is a list of XML files (e.g. Catherine_Scene.xml OdaNobunaga_Scene.xml)

The benchmark dumps a file into the app directory named 'LeaderBenchmark.csv' which contains the resulting information. Statistics are given for each leader independently, and they're appended onto the file from one run to the next. Mean FPS is the statistic that matters. It's an average over the entire run for each leader, with the first 30 frames ignored to prevent load time and startup hitches from skewing the results.

General rendering options.
These options allow advanced users to change the way Civilization 5 handles threaded display lists (DL) on DX11. For more information about this, users are encouraged to read the DX documentation. Note: this is for advanced testing for threaded GPU drivers. These settings are also stored in the config.ini file.

“ThreadingMode = 0”
Controls the threading strategy: (0=default,1=no display lists,2=one DL per command set, 3=split mode, 4=aggregate mode).
0 - Do whatever we think is best (equivalent to 2currently)
1 - Disable display list use and do everything on the immediate context
2 - Our current behavior
3 - Split and merge command sets, aiming for a particular display list size.
* This mode is aiming at a balanced load. It will squish together small DL's, but will also rip large ones apart. This may produce more DLs than our current path does, depending on the workload.
4 - Combine small command sets into one display list, but never split them.
* Should be as good as 'split' at eliminating small lists, but won't try to balance the load.

“TargetJobSize = 100”
Number of commands per diplay list to aim for in SPLIT and AGGREGATE thread modes.


Developer Podcasts
The official Civ V website has some developer podcasts posted discussing various aspects of the game.

Episode One: Welcome to Civilization V
Episode Two: The Art of Civilization V
Episode Three: Characters in Civilization V
Episode Four: A Believable World
Episode Five: All About the Engine
Episode Six: The User Interface
Episode Seven: Battles and Gameplay Galore
Episode Eight: In-Game AI
Episode Nine: What Are City-States?
Episode Ten: Social Policies in Civilization V
Episode Eleven: The Civilopedia and Tech Tree
Episode Twelve: People You’ll Meet


Videos
Civ V announcement trailer
Civ V E3 2010 trailer
Civ Anonymous video - - One More Turn affects people's lives on a daily basis!
GiantBomb Video Preview
Official Civ V website live gameplay stream (archived) - Part 1
Official Civ V website live gameplay stream (archived) - Part 2
13 minute playthrough with dev commentary
Giant Bomb Quick Look (47+ min long!)


Impressions/Previews
Eurogamer Preview
Eurogamer Hands-on Impressions
ExtremeTech Preview
Gamespot Hands-on Preview
IGN Preview
Escapist preview

Reviews
Metacritic - 92/100

PC Gamer - 93/100

As for where this game fits into the series, Civilization V isn’t necessarily a definitively ‘better’ empire-building game on Civilization IV – as that would be almost impossible. This is more of an equal that exists in parallel, offering a fresh and invigorating style of play with more emphasis on combat.

Civ V isn’t simply a rehash of what came before with better graphics (though it has those, too): it’s a whole new world with a whole new set of rich, intricate rules to master. It’s also impossible for a strategy fan to resist picking up … or to quit.

Shacknews

All in all, Civilization V is an amazing game. Firaxis has changed so many things, but manages to keep the feel of what makes this a Civilization title. There's a major level of polish across all facets of the game and it is absolutely gorgeous. It can be a bit of a resource hog as games progress, but it won't require a top of the line rig. Series veterans will find welcome changes and newcomers should enjoy learning Civ in this version.

Destructoid - 9.5/10

Civilization V makes huge advances to the series that do nothing but enhance the essential experience. Improvements to the user interface and AI at all levels result in it being more approachable for newcomers without losing any of the strategic depth that long-time fans crave. It vastly improves combat, making the micro-level gameplay both more complex and entertaining. It trims all the fat, leaving only decision-making, strategic planning, and the sheer joy of crushing your enemies. Civ V is the pinnacle of the franchise to date.

Wired - 8/10

In a sea of shooters with pounding soundtracks and frenetic gameplay, Civilization V is one of the few games to challenge players’ minds — to have them sit back and analyze situations methodically. If Halo: Reach is heaven on earth for twitch-gamers everywhere, then Civilization V is the thinking man’s paradise.

Gaming Nexus - 5/5

Civilization V is, once again, going to consume countless hours of my life in turn-based bliss. With the "boardgame" feel and the slick, polished features, I know I'm in for many sleep-deprived mornings. Fans of the series, or turn-based 4X games in general, will have a blast with this for a long time to come. And while it might be a little daunting to newcomers, Civilization V is also a great place for those who might want to wet their feet in the 4X pool.

Joystiq - 5/5

Whether you're a veteran of the whole series, a convert from Revolution or someone totally new to the franchise, understand this: Civilization 5 is a game that needed to happen. For a game so very, very large, it delivers everything in an easy to understand package no matter what route you take to playing it. The core Civilization experience is still there, but it's like an efficiency expert came in and streamlined everything that had gotten clunky with the series. It's a "friendly" strategy game. Can one even call a strategy game friendly? Well, I just did.

The Escapist - 5/5

My favorite Civilization to date. Hex tiles and no stacking makes combat fun and more tactical. The new systems work incredibly well without altering what makes the game Civilization. Civ V is an excellent game.

G4 - 5/5

Civilization 5 is a fantastic turn-based strategy game, retaining the same addictive gameplay the first Civilization brought to PC gaming almost 20 years ago. In many ways, Civ 5 is the best representation of the series and certainly the most accessible for new and old players alike. Not all of the changes work or enhance the game, but most are a large improvement towards an even more playable entertainment experience. Between Starcraft 2 and Civilization 5, PC gaming is far from dead, folks!

Gametrailers video review - 9.4/10

As we've recently been reminded of, there's no such thing as moderation when it comes to Civ. Civilization V is a brilliant expression of the turn-based strategy game by the undisputed masters of the form. It's a great entry point for newcomers, and veterans will delight in all the wrinkles and refinements. The exchange rate between real life hours and in-game turns is not in your favor, but be prepared to surrender regardless.

GameInformer - 9.75/10

I encourage everyone, from strategy newbs who spend most of their time in online FPS matches to grognards who could teach me a thing or two about the optimal distribution of forces in hex-based combat, to give Civilization V a shot. As a hardcore strategy gamer who is no stranger to planning out my empire's production dozens of turns in advance, I've already turned to Civ V for my world-conquering needs – but at the same time, if anything is going to rear a new generation of strategy gamers like the very first Civilization did for me, it's this.

CVG - 9.3/10

While context is important in a long-running series like Civ, it is a disservice too often committed to judge the game by what has come before or what it could have been. What you have here is the cleanest, best looking, smoothest playing, most tactically enjoyable version of the deepest and most addictive strategy game of all time.

IGN - 9/10

Civilization V is one of the best turn-based strategy games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Whether teaming up with my friends for some multiplayer, or simply losing a whole night of sleep to the game’s endlessly replayable single player, this is one game that any strategy enthusiast, or, hell anyone strat-curious should check out. Sure, I miss some of the deeper inter-civilization relations that the more defined religion and government setup brought in Civilization IV, but that’s nothing anyone new to the series will even think twice about. With all the tips, advisers and tools in place, this is the first Civilization for PC that I feel is worth just about every person’s time. Go forth and create, subdue, and exploit. Do as Firaxis has done, and bring Civilization to the masses.

Ars Technica - Buy

It seems a major design goal in Civ5 was to take out all the boring parts, all the parts that don't matter, all the parts that were confusing or difficult to use, and leave only the parts that are fun and make Civ the interesting, complex, infinitely replayable game it has always been. With this fifth installment, Civ may have finally achieved a perfect balance, where it will please both long-time fans and new players.

Cheat Code Central - 4.7/5

The bottom line is this: Civilization V keeps everything that makes the series great, makes the game more accessible to non-fans, and overhauls many of the finer gameplay details. Every PC gamer owes it to himself to give this game a shot.

Eurogamer - 8/10:

At its absolute smartest (what the game calls its 'normal' difficulty setting, before the AI starts receiving stat bonuses) the AI still makes inexplicable demands from you. It will refuse your demands, even if you've got an apocalyptic horde parked outside its borders. It will go to war with you, dash a dozen armies against your defences, then offer you everything it's got for a peace settlement. These aren't opponents that make for fond memories. Civ V is occasionally capable of clashes between equally-matched nations, but they're unforgivably rare. If you want respectable competition, you need to head online.

This is the reason I spent that week actively wrestling with my burning desire to click on the Civ V icon, despite it being such an astoundingly slick, engaging game. For all the hours it eats up, outside of its multiplayer it gives disappointingly little back, and it will continue to give very little back until Firaxis bites the bullet and admits that there are aspects of Civilization which deserve not just to be improved, but fixed.

Kotaku

It's a real shame that there's already a game called Civilization Revolution, because while that console title was a brave attempt at something a little different for the franchise, it's this game that really, well, revolutionises the series.

With so many changes, tweaks, cuts and additions, it could all have gone so horribly wrong. Make too many changes and you infuriate one of the largest and most devout fanbases in all of gaming. Make too few changes and you risk releasing a game that's accused of being stale. Frumpy. Old-fashioned.

But it didn't, and we're thankfully left with a game that keeps the spirit of Civilization alive with one hand, while with the other, it casts aside twenty years of mechanical dead weight in favour of a faster, cleaner and more enjoyable game.

1up - C

Some of these problems are minor, but they're the sorts of things I'd expect from a rookie developer scrambling to meet a deadline. What are they doing in 2K's flagship strategy game, under the brand of one of the greatest game developers we've ever known? In many ways, Civilization V is an admirable game, bolder and sexier than the average strategy game, and sporting some nice innovations that will make it hard to go back to Civilization IV. But in other ways, it's a disappointment that needs a lot more work before it earns its place as the successor to Civilization IV.

GiantBomb - 5/5

Between StarCraft II and Civilization V, it's been an interesting and exciting year for PC strategy games. Not to take away from either, but Civ V is, essentially, the anti-StarCraft, or at least as far as it can get while still occupying the same realm of strategy games. Either way, I cannot recommend Civ V enough to fans both old and new, or even people who hadn't considered playing a turn-based strategy game before. Which, I suppose, makes me the irresponsible one.

More to be added as they come in.

 

[JoeMartin]

Arabia and Russia will be hacks late game with double oil/uranium.

 

[ZZMitch]

This and Halo Reach in the next few weeks = no life for me.

 

[The Technomancer]

Whoops. Can a mod move our posts out of the information stream?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Whoops. Can a mod move our posts out of the information stream?

You guys are too damn twitchy.

 

[zoku88]

Sorry about that :lol

 

[ChoklitReign]

That's a lot of changes. It's going to be hard to adjust to, especially when I'm so bad at Civ IV!

 

[Cday]

beep...beep...beep...beep

 

[Gomu Gomu]

Magnificent OP. Sorry for fucking it up though :lol .
Can't wait to play the demo. Theoretically I should be able to play it on decent settings. I have to see how it performs in practice.

 

[MotorbreathX]

Ghandi looks badass.

 

[JoeMartin]

Also France with back-to-back special units in the Musketeer and Foreign Legion is going to be dirty as soon as gunpowder hits.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Oh man, I can't believe we're so close to the release of this baby. One more turn syndrome is coming back.

Aztec
Leader: Montezuma

Fuck that asshole.

 

[butts]

I laughed when I read post #1, more so that it was posted in the middle of the informational posts :lol

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, sorry about that man, that is one hell of a fantastic OP.

 

[Darkgran]

Fantastic OP

So many good games coming out....I love this time of year.

 

[gillty]

That is one hell of an OT!

 

[UraMallas]

Hype get. This game will put all others on the back burner for months to come.

 

[theinfinityissue]

It really is just a phenomenal op. Hits all the bases, graphics, info, clever title..

I'm eagerly awaiting the demo for this, because honestly I've not yet been convinced that Civ IV can't continue to fulfill all my turn-based desires. I mean, I can still sink comfortably into a game of civ 4 and suddenly fail to remember the calendar month much less a few hours.

 

[Jibber Hack]

Wow. Am pre-loading now. Nice job OP.

 

[droopy]

Think I'm going to love the Advance Wars combat. And apparently the English longbows have 3 range versus 2 for other archery and siege units. Anyone remember Grit from AW: DS?

 

[chixdiggit]

I really need to buckle down and finish up some games before this comes out.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

Is Christopher Tin involved with this one?

 

[d1rtn4p]

Firmly believe that had Conan been filmed post-1990, he would of acknowledged a new Civ game as what's best in life.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

My computer can't run it, but I've still got it ordered on steam. the only other civ game I haven't played Day 1, is Civ 1

 

[LowParry]

I...I...I...want to play. But never played previous ones. Am I good? This looks extremely fun. Fun fun fucking fun fun.

 

[Cday]

I...I...I...want to play. But never played previous ones. Am I good? This looks extremely fun. Fun fun fucking fun fun.

You're good. Civ V has extensive hand holding for new players compared to past Civ games.

 

[LowParry]

You're good. Civ V has extensive hand holding for new players compared to past Civ games.

Ah good good. I've always wanted to get into Civ and this will be a big opportunity.

 

[jamesinclair]

From the live screen, the new border expansion system troubles me, looks way too slow, especially for giant maps.


As for the pro-order map packs.... ehm, can't someone just compile them all and make them available for everyone to download? Or will there be no community map making?

Did they dinally bring back build the palace mode?

 

[Fixed1979]

Excellent, there will be much time wasted. Nice OP!

 

[ZZMitch]

From the live screen, the new border expansion system troubles me, looks way too slow, especially for giant maps.


As for the pro-order map packs.... ehm, can't someone just compile them all and make them available for everyone to download? Or will there be no community map making?

Did they dinally bring back build the palace mode?

I kind of like how organic it is, but yeah, seems like it is going to be slower then in Civ IV... create more cities I suppose!

 

[ixix]

So the Civ-specific achievements basically revolve around accomplishing some attested or apocryphal achievement of the real civilization, until you get to...

My Little Pony
As Catherine, research Horseback Riding before any other Civ.

Which is, uh, something else entirely.

 

[Kintaro]

Between this, FFXIV and Dead Rising 2 the following week on PC...I'm fucked.

 

[LowParry]

Between this, FFXIV and Dead Rising 2 the following week on PC...I'm fucked.

Oh come on. Wait for the PS3 version before jumping in.

 

[Kabouter]

Such a shame there's no Spain. Would've gladly given up minor civilizations like Siam or Songhai for them.

Other than that though, it's all good. Just still have to decide on which version to buy. I'll probably just get the non-rapetime edition on Steam.

 

[Firebrand]

Still undecided where to get the game, do not care much for all this "exclusive" content. Hopefully they'll make some of it available as DLC eventually.

But yeah, great job on the OP. Just a little over a week now...

 

[Altazor]

I've never played a Civ game before (I know, I know...) but this has me extremely interested. Sadly, I have less time than ever but still... maybe I'll manage to give it a go once in a while... if that's possible and I'm not already addicted at my first try :lol

 

[Myzer]

Goodbye social life, hello "Just one more turn".

 

[Zzoram]

I just did my Steam preload. I'm so pumped for this game.

Remember guys, you don't have to finish a game in a single sitting. That mentality keeps you up until 5am :lol

 

[zoku88]

Such a shame there's no Spain. Would've gladly given up minor civilizations like Siam or Songhai for them.

Other than that though, it's all good. Just still have to decide on which version to buy. I'll probably just get the non-rapetime edition on Steam.

Holy crap. I hadn't noticed that there was no spain.

 

[Kabouter]

Remember guys, you don't have to finish a game in a single sitting. That mentality keeps you up until 5am :lol

Given that I play Civ IV on Marathon (and before they introduced marathon in a patch, on a custom setting), it's probably a good thing I never had that mentality :lol

Holy crap. I hadn't noticed that there was no spain.

Yeah, I guess they wanted to tip the balance of Civs a little less in Europe's favour.

 

[johnsmith]

Civ games are always too euro-centric, but not having Spain is a pretty big mistake seeing how they colonized a third of the world.

 

[sweetvar26]

Nice thread OP.

 

[Kabouter]

Civ games are always too euro-centric, but not having Spain is a pretty big mistake seeing how they colonized a third of the world.

Well, which Euro civ would you have left out? It's not like there are any minor ones there. Seems likely Spain will be in the first DLC pack though, it's easily the biggest civ that's not included in the game at launch.

 

[platypotamus]

Well done Xia, great OPs.

 

[pilonv1]

Those achievements are great

 

[SRG01]

Are there any places where I can order from that still have a discount code??

 

[Firebrand]

Are there any places where I can order from that still have a discount code??

www.direct2drive.com (SANDIEGO for $10 off until Sep 14th, US site only)

 

[Kittonwy]

The only civ I played was revolution on the PS3, am I ready for this?